Conventionally, a tire vulcanizing apparatus for continuously vulcanizing and molding a green tire is provided with a cradle for receiving the green tire, an upper mold and a lower mold for vulcanizing and molding the green tire, and a tire elevating apparatus for setting the green tire to the lower mold.
The molding step is executed by mounting the green tire on the cradle, temporarily holding the green tire by the tire elevating apparatus, thereafter setting the green tire to the lower mold, and vulcanizing and molding the green tire between the lower mold and the upper mold.
The applicant of the present invention has already proposed a tire vulcanizing apparatus which solves the time loss in the molding step (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-158447).
The prior art tire vulcanizing apparatus is structured, as shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D, such that a tire supplying apparatus 80 receives a green tire T at a tire receiving position M1, is provided with a cradle 81 which moves the received green tire T to a tire supplying position M2, a tire elevating apparatus 83 which elevates at the tire supplying position M2 so as to hold the green tire T on the cradle 81, and sets the green tire T to a lower mold 82, and an upper mold 84 which elevates at a tire vulcanizing position M3 so as to vulcanize and mold the green tire T with respect to the lower mold 82.
Further, the structure is made such that a moving unit 8 in which the cradle 81 and the lower mold 82 are integrally connected is formed, and the lower mold 82 reciprocates between the tire supplying position M2 and the tire vulcanizing position M3 at the same time when the cradle 81 is moved between the tire receiving position M1 and the tire supplying position M2 by reciprocating the moving unit 8.
In the prior art tire vulcanizing apparatus, since the moving unit 8 in which the cradle 81 and the lower mold 82 are integrally connected is formed, the green tire T is supplied to the cradle 81 from the tire supplying apparatus 80 at a time of setting the green tire T to the lower mold 82 by the tire elevating apparatus 83, the lower mold 82 is moved to the tire vulcanizing position M3 from the tire supplying position M2 by setting the green tire T to the lower mold 82 and thereafter moving the moving unit 8, and the cradle 81 is moved to the tire supplying position M2 from the tire receiving position M1.
However, since the cradle 81 has been conventionally used, the cradle 81 is supplied with the green tire T in a passive attitude in which the cradle 81 waits for the green tire T supplied from the tire supplying apparatus 80 at the tire receiving position M1.
Accordingly, when the cradle 81 is provided, the tire supplying apparatus 80 is required as an essential element, and there is required an operation that the tire supplying apparatus 80 elevates at the receiving position M1, receives the green tire T at an ascent position thereof, and passes the received green tire T to the cradle 81 at a descent position.
As mentioned above, when the cradle 81 is provided, since it is necessary to move the cradle 81 (the moving unit 8) in correspondence to an elevating timing of the tire supplying apparatus 80, a moving timing of the lower mold 82 which forms the moving unit 8 together with the cradle 81 is affected.
As a result, an influence is generated in a motion timing of the tire elevating apparatus 83 which sets the green tire T to the lower mold 82, and the upper mold 84 which vulcanizes and molds the green tire T with respect to the lower mold 82. Accordingly, there is left a problem that the time loss is increased such that it is necessary to set a waiting time of each of the apparatuses long.
The present invention is made in order to solve the problem mentioned above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tire vulcanizing apparatus which can reduce the time loss and can efficiently vulcanize and mold by excluding the cradle and the tire supplying apparatus, employing a tire loading apparatus for positively loading the green tire, and forming a moving unit in which the tire loading apparatus and the lower mold are integrally connected.